ARTIST BIO
EVA MERENDES
Eva Merendes is a Greek mixed-media artist currently undertaking her MA in Fine Art at City & Guilds of London Art School. Influenced by her studies in Psychology, Eva offers an unconventional perspective where art becomes a tool for scientific study of the mind and behaviours to unveil what lies beneath the surface. For Eva, every drawing starts with the geometric shape of a circle. Having grown up on a farm, Eva traces back her interest for round shapes to the observation of nature’s biological cells through the magnifying glass of her father’s microscope. A strong curiosity is the driving force behind Eva's practice leading to fearless experimentations with different materials and media as she takes us on a journey of complete immersion in her world of colourful circles.
“The Earth. A cell. A group of people sitting around a table to share a meal or gathering around a fire. A circle brings life – everything comes from a circle.”
Feeding through her entire creation process, Eva finds inspiration in the curves of the female body. Delving deeper into the concept of femininity and its societal depictions, she puts forward her own interpretation of what it means to be a woman. But Eva doesn’t stop there. Her strong desire to learn about the world around her inevitably leads her to question socially constructed identities and roles. Humanist at heart, her passion for deconstructing human relationships gives her the drive to push the limits of her own experimentations. Closing her own circles, Eva finds in art a way to connect with the present moment, the here and now. But when the unconscious meets consciousness, her inquisitive mind brings out her own anxieties and fears to the forefront pulling her into a spiral of her own making. Life, for Eva, isn’t a straight line – it is a constantly moving open-ended circle. Strong in her own vulnerability, she draws her way out of the spiral and into the process of self-acceptance to shape her own unconventional path, from one curious exploration to the next.
Education | MA in Fine Art, City & Guilds of London Art School
Awards | Finalist, 4th FIDA Award, 2021
Featured | 1247k photobook Kassel Fotobookfestival Library, 2021
Group Exhibitions | FIDAARTS Show (Online), 2021; The Art of Coffee, Bleur x The Gentlemen Baristas, 2021; [INSERT FEELING HERE] (London), 2020; Vicious Circle, Art Number 23 (London), 2019; Riposte, Riposte x Club (London), 2019; We Sustain (London), 2019; 21st century Neanderthal, Fringe Arts Bath Festival, 2019; Art House (Arthaus London Fields), 2019; A celebration of difference (London), 2018; Human (London), 2018; Beyond the image (London), 2018